Students not free from study during vacation

Senior students studying late for the College Scholastic Ability Test at Jongno Hakwon, a private educational institute, in Dongjak, Seoul, Aug. 6. / Yonhap

By Kim Jae-heun

An 18-year-old high school student, Lee Hye-yoon, began her vacation late last month, but she is busier now than when she was at school.

Lee's day starts at 10 a.m. and ends at 10 p.m. at night. She goes to three different “hagwons,” or private educational institutes, and she barely rests on the weekend.

“We call it 10-to-10 among my friends. From morning to afternoon, we learn what we will study at school for the next year. From afternoon to night, there are special lectures for students wishing to take more advanced classes or make up for their weak subjects,” Lee said.

Lee added that when she means make-up at a hagwon, it does not mean the student is falling behind on the subject, but she or he is merely not at the advanced level.

“Top students study for their school courses two years in advance at hagwon. This is not necessary but if you become a little lazy and don't attend hagwon on vacation, you will fall behind everyone else,” Lee added.

In the past, students had to do homework over their vacation, especially those at high school who were required to attend sessions at school.

However, the government abolished these sessions during vacation from the early 2010s to lessen the burdens of students.

Lee says it didn't help.

“It means more time to study at hagwon. I think students are busier now during the vacation,” Lee said.

Kim Mi-kyung, the mother of one junior high school boy, says her son does not sleep more than five hours a day.

“It gets severe during the vacation. Everyone studies at school but not everyone studies during the vacation. My son is one of the top students in his class but there are smarter students than him in his grade. They sleep only three hours a day,” the mother said.

“My son only goes to hagwon. But there are students who go to hagwon and have private tutors come to their houses on the weekend,” Kim added.

In 2008, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) banned private education institutes from teaching students after 10 p.m. The initiative came as an effort to discourage overheating private education among students. The education office also prohibited private tutoring after 10 p.m. as of July last year.

However, hagwons have moved their opening hour to 9 a.m. and many institutes have signed secret contracts with study cafes nearby so their students can study overnight there while avoiding the regulation.

“It is too early for high school students to go to sleep at 10 p.m. while they have college entrance exams ahead of them in one or two years. There are also middle school students who wish to enter special-purpose high schools. Parents prefer hagwons holding students longer, too,” said a math teacher surnamed Lee, who works at Jongno Hagwon in Seoul.

The SMOE says the regulation cannot ban study cafes from allowing students to study until late at night.

“Study cafes only rent the space so it is hard to say they run an illegal business. Police also have to find a teacher and students studying after 10 p.m. at such sites and confirm payments have made _ which is difficult to figure out,” an SMOE official said.

Although the ardor for private education is more competitive in Seoul _ particularly in the Seocho and Gangnam districts _ the story is not so different for students living outside of Seoul and Korean students generally suffer a lot of stress from studying for many hours, the math teacher Lee said.

“Hagwons will send out their special vacation programs to mothers on mobile phones. Mothers hate their children falling behind and hagwons know that. They make programs hard to follow in the first place, so students never quit going to hagwon, even on vacations,” he said.